A39669:382
The Method of Grace
The method of grace, in bringing home the eternal redemption contrived by the Father, and accomplished by the Son through the effectual application of the spirit unto God's elect, being the second part of Gospel redemption : wherein the great mystery of our union and communion with Christ is opened and applied, unbelievers invited, false pretenders convicted, every mans claim to Christ examined, and the misery of Christless persons discovered and bewailed / by John Flavell ...The method of grace, in bringing home the eternal redemption contrived by the Father, and accomplished by the Son through the effectual application of the spirit unto God's elect, being the second part of Gospel redemption : wherein the great mysterie of our union and communion with Christ is opened and applied, unbelievers invited, false pretenders convicted, every mans claim to Christ examined, and the misery of Christless persons discovered and bewailed / by John Flavell ...
London: printed by M. White for Francis Tyton, 1681
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
That its efficacy is great in convincing, humbling, and changing the hearts of men is past all debate and question. The weapons of our warfare (saith the Apostle) are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God, and bringing into Captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor. 10. 4, 5. No heart so hard, no conscience so stupid, but this sword can pierce and wound: in an instant it can cast down all those vain reasonings, and fond imaginations which the Carnal heart hath been building all its life long, and open a fair passage for Convictions of sin, and the fears and terrors of wrath to come into that heart that was never afraid of these things before. So Acts 2. 37. When they heard this they were pricked to the heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the Apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
What shall we do? is the doleful cry of men at their wits end: the voice of one in deepest distress, and such outcries have been no rarities under the preaching of the word: its power hath been felt by persons of all orders and conditions: the great and honourable of the earth, as well as the poor and despicable. The learned and the ignorant, the civil and profane, ⟨p. 55⟩the young and the old, all have felt the heart-piercing efficacy of the Gospel.
If you ask whence hath the word preached this mighty power? The answer must be, Neither from it self, nor him that preaches it, but from the spirit of God whose instrument it is, by whose blessing and concurrence with it, it produceth its blessed effects upon the hearts of men.